


Those Chosen by the Planet

by LazyKatie



Category: Final Fantasy VII, RWBY
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Bi-Blake, F/F, F/M, FFVII AU, Fantasy, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mwahaha, Trans Female Character, Trans Ruby Rose (RWBY), Trans Yang Xiao Long, Very Gay Yang, if you haven't, if you've played ffvii you know who the major character deaths are, slight sunnybees
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:12:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyKatie/pseuds/LazyKatie
Summary: What was supposed to be simple mercenary work for ex-SOLDIER Blake Belladonna quickly turns into a quest to save the world from deranged fallen hero Adam Taurus. Joining her on this journey is childhood friend Yang Xiao Long, Yang dad's Taiyang, spunky flower boy Sun Wukong, talking corgi Zwei, fortune-telling robot Penny Polendina, faunus ninja Ilia Amitola, Yang's mysterious mom Raven Branwen, and drunk pilot Qrow Branwen. Final Fantasy VII au. Do not need to have played the game to understand it.





	1. Bombing Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, welcome to the first chapter of my FFVII au. This one doesn't have TOO many differences from the original game because it's just an introductory chapter, but future chapters will have more original content. Shoutout to nat and lava, the co-creators of this au, for giving me feedback, and WolfRain for betaing.

In the city of Midgar, a group called AVALANCHE stood atop a moving train headed for the Sector 1 Station, intent on destroying the Sector 1 Mako Reactor. In the group was leader Taiyang Xiao Long, members Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren, and mercenary for hire Blake Belladonna.

Tai was a tan, muscular, blue-eyed 43 year old man with sandy blond hair and a soul patch. He had a robotic right arm that could transform into a gun when needed, with a tattoo of a stylized yellow blazing heart on his upper right arm, above the prosthetic. He wore a brown vest, green pants, and brown boots.

Jaune was a 21 year old light-skinned man with blond hair held back by a red bandana and blue eyes. He wore a beige shirt, blue shorts, and brown boots, and had a sword and shield strapped to his back. 

Ren, also 21, was light-skinned and had pink eyes and long, black hair with a pink streak in it. He wore a green shirt, green pants, and brown shoes, and had a red bandana tied around his forehead. His weapons were a pair of green handguns with blades attached.

Nora, Ren’s girlfriend and the same age as him, was a light-skinned woman with turquoise eyes and short orange hair. She wore metal armor over a blue top, in addition to brown gloves and boots and knee-length olive green shorts. Her weapon of choice was a giant hammer. Lastly, Blake Belladonna, 21 like the other three, was a dark-skinned woman with long black hair and a black bow tied at the top of her head. A former SOLDIER first class, she still wore her old uniform, and had the trademark glowing blue “Mako eyes” all members of the group had. Her weapon was a giant sword she kept on her back when not in use. Once the train arrived at the station, Ren and Nora leapt down and incapacitated the two guards stationed there. Jaune then jumped down to join them, and the three of them ran ahead as Tai and Blake jumped down.

“Follow me, newbie,” Tai said, running ahead and motioning for Blake to follow. She did, but ended up running into a couple guards, who she made quick work of with her sword. She arrived at the gate to Sector 1 where Jaune, Ren, and Nora were gathered; the latter was working on getting the door open.

“I can’t believe we have someone that used to be in SOLDIER with us. That’s so cool!” Jaune said to Blake in admiration. “Wait, aren’t SOLDIER the bad guys? What’s she doing helping us?” Nora asked in confusion. 

“She _was_ in SOLDIER, Nora,” Ren pointed out. “She quit and is one of _us_ now. Say, what was your name again?”

“Blake,” Blake replied, sounding bored.

“Well Blake, I’m-”

“Don’t care. Once we finish this job, I’m gone,” Blake bluntly interrupted. 

Just then, Tai ran over to the group. “All right, try not to move in a group. Our target is the North Mako Reactor. We’ll meet up at the bridge in front of it.” Nora then got the gate open; then she, Ren, and Jaune proceeded into Sector 1. Tai turned to Blake.

“I don’t trust you,” he said, before turning and heading into Sector 1. Blake waited a bit before heading into Sector 1 herself. Once she reached the bridge outside the reactor, she found Ren, Nora, and Tai running into the reactor, while Jaune stood outside the door to Sector 8.

“I’m in charge of securing the escape passage,” Jaune explained. “You head inside, okay Blake?” 

Blake nodded and headed inside the reactor, where Tai was waiting for her.

“This your first time inside a reactor?” Tai asked.

“Of course not,” Blake answered. “I did used to work for the Schnee Mako Company, after all.”

“Fair point,” Tai said with a shrug. “Y’know, this planet is full of Mako energy. People use it every day. It’s the life blood of this planet, but the SMC keeps sucking it out with their weird machines.”

“I didn’t come here to be lectured,” Blake said, rolling her eyes. “Can we get going already?”

“All right, but you’re sticking with me. Like I said, I don’t trust you.”

They headed to the door, where Ren was working on getting it open, Nora standing by him.

“God, I love watching my man work his magic,” Nora swooned, before Ren finished getting the door open. He, Nora, Blake and Tai entered the next room. Nora got working on getting the door in this room open.

“Y’know, a lot of people risked their lives just for the code to open these doors,” Ren commented, before Nora got it open, revealing an elevator, which she, Blake, and Tai entered. Nora pressed the button to get the elevator moving.

“This is so exciting!” She squealed. “We’re gonna blow up a reactor!”

“Little by little these reactors will drain all life, and that’ll be that,” Tai commented.

“Not my problem,” Blake said with indifference.

“The planet’s _dying_ , Blake! Don’t you care about that?!”

“All I care about is getting this job done before security arrives.”

Tai clenched his fist, but kept his mouth shut. The elevator then reached the bottom, and the three of them exited it. After heading down a set of stairs, Nora hung back and let Blake and Tai continue on. The two of them eventually reached the core. 

“All right, time to blow this place. Blake, you set the bomb.”

“Why me?” 

“Just do it! I’ll watch to make sure you don’t try anything funny.”

“Fine…” Blake sighed. Just then, she felt herself experience a brief flashback to another time she was in a reactor, and could hear a voice in her head say, “Watch out! This isn’t just a reactor!”

“What’s up?” Tai asked.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on? Why haven’t you set the bomb yet?”

“Sorry…” Blake said, before setting it up. Just then, the alarms started going off, Blake and Tai turned around.

“Uh oh, something’s coming,” Tai said, pointing to a robotic scorpion with rifles attached to it. He transformed his arm into gun form in preparation for the fight.

The scorpion opened fire on the two of them, and Tai immediately began returning fire. The scorpion then raised its tail up.

“Tai, stop attacking,” Blake warned. “If you attack while its tail is up, it’ll counter with its laser!”

But Blake was too late, as a volley of bullets had already hit the machine. The bot proceeded to shoot a laser from its tail at Tai, but thanks to Blake’s warning he dodged it. The scorpion then put its tail back down. 

“You keep firing on it, I’m gonna try and get close and dismantle it,” Blake said, using a Thunder materia to electrify her sword. She got up close and as she predicted, it tried to stab her with its tail. It only ended up stabbing a shadow clone, while the real Blake hopped onto the tail, slicing off the tip. She then proceeded to jump down onto the carapace and stab her electrified sword deep into it, before jumping off and watching as the mech exploded. Blake looked over at the bomb she’d set.

“We’ve got 10 minutes before that thing explodes. Let’s get going!” Blake said to Tai, and the two of them proceeded to head out. Along the way they came across Nora with her leg stuck in a walkway. Blake crouched down to help her up. “You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks Blake. I guess you **do** care after all!” Nora said, and she, Blake and Tai headed into the elevator, where they met up with Ren at the top. The four of them proceeded to make their way out of the reactor, meeting up with Jaune, where the five of them headed into Sector 8 just before the reactor exploded. 

“That should keep the planet going a little longer,” Tai commented.

“Yeah,” Jaune said, nodding in agreement. The group then proceeded on a bit, before noticing rubble blocking their path.

“Stand back everyone! I’ve got this,” Nora said, pulling out her hammer and destroying the rubble. They proceeded on past the rubble, before eventually stopping again. 

“All right everyone, let’s split up and rendezvous at Sector 8 station,” Tai ordered them. Jaune, Ren, and Nora nodded and ran off in separate directions. Tai began to leave himself, before being stopped by Blake.

“Hey…” she began, before her voice trailed off. 

“If it’s about your money, wait ‘til we’re back at the hideout,” Tai told her, before running off. 

Blake made her way to LOVELESS Avenue, where she saw a faunus boy carrying a basket of flowers get knocked over by some people running about. He quickly got up and dusted himself off, before approaching Blake.

The boy looked to be about Blake’s age, maybe a little older. Like Tai he had sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and bronze skin. A blond monkey tail could be seen poking out of the back of his pants. He wore a string necklace, brown boots, blue pants, and an open red jacket, leaving his chest and impressive abs on display. A pink ribbon holding a white materia was tied around one of his belt loops.

“Hey, can you tell me what happened?” He asked Blake.

“It’s nothing…” Blake said. “Y’know, you don’t see many flowers around these parts.”

“Oh these? Do you want one? Only a gil!” He said with a big grin on his face.

“Sure,” Blake decided, handing him a single gil.

“Thanks, here ya go!” He said, handing a flower to Blake. He then winked at Blake and ran off.

“Well he was… weird…” Blake commented to herself, before continuing through Sector 8. She eventually ended up at a bridge above some railway tracks. 

“Hey! You there!” A soldier shouted, and Blake suddenly found herself standing still, surrounded by soldiers.

“I don’t have time for this,” Blake muttered, before jumping down on top of a passing train.

Inside the baggage section of the train, Tai, Ren, Nora, and Jaune were gathered.

“Blake never came…” Ren lamented. 

“What if she was killed?” Jaune said solemnly.

“No way, she’s too tough for that!” Nora said, refusing to believe Blake could be dead.

“She better not be dead, or else Yang’ll kill me,” Tai commented.

They suddenly heard banging on the roof and glanced up briefly.

“Do you think Blake’s going to stay with AVALANCHE?” Jaune asked.

“We can only hope,” Ren said. 

“She better, or else she’ll leave poor Yang heartbroken, and I could never forgive her for that,” Tai said. “She’s already been abandoned by enough people for one lifetime.”

Suddenly, they heard more banging, before the door to outside the train opened and Blake came in. 

“Blake!” Jaune, Nora, and Ren said simultaneously, happy to see her. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Blake said.

“Jeez Blake, how could you leave us worried like that?” Tai berated her. “Do you care about anything but yourself?” 

“You guys were worried about me?”

“Wha-?! Of course we were! Whatever, let’s move out,” Tai grumbled, heading on to the next train car. 

“Hey, you did great back there,” Jaune told Blake, before following Tai.

“I agree, and we’ll do even better next time,” Ren said, before moving on himself. Nora walked over to the door Blake had come in through.

“Lemme just close that,” Nora said, doing so. “Thanks for helping me back there!”

Nora then moved on to the next car herself, Blake following after her. As they entered, a voice over the intercom said, “Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 AM, Midgar Standard Time…”

Ren yawned. “Man, that mission sure took its toll on me.”

Nora yawned as well. “Me too, I think I’ll nap ‘til we get to the station.”

Blake walked over to Jaune.

“Y’know, one day, we’ll be famous, myself included! I’ve got a bright future ahead of me, I’m telling ya, Blake,” he said.

“Oh really? And what kind of future do you have in mind?” Blake asked, deciding to humor him.

“All my life I’ve always felt like a sidekick. But with AVALANCHE, I get to be a hero. After we’re done saving the world, I plan on settling down with my girlfriend, Pyrrha! She’s quite the catch you know! She’s the most famous chocobo racer in the world! I hope you get to meet her someday. I don’t know what she sees in me, but her belief in me has helped me believe in myself, so I’m quite thankful for her. She makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world!”

“I see…” Blake said, before heading over to Ren, who was looking at a map.

“Hey, Blake, want me to explain this map of the Midgar Rail System to you?” Ren whispered, not wanting to be overheard. Blake shrugged and nodded. 

“This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It’s about a 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above the ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section. The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section.”

“Then, there’s No. 2, No.3, and so on all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 reactors provide the city with power. Each numbered sector in Midgar used to be a town with their own unique names, but nobody remembers them, so we just call them Sector 1, Sector 2, and so on these days.” 

“Next, let’s look at the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area right now. At each checkpoint an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background of each and every passenger on this train by linking back up to the central data bank at Schnee headquarters.”

“Since anyone could tell we look suspicious, we’re using fake IDs.”

A red light began flashing, before stopping.

“Speaking of, that was the ID check area just now,” Ren commented, and with that, Ren had thankfully finished what had become rather boring exposition for Blake.

“Ugh, that light always hurts my eyes,” Nora complained.

“I know, right?” Jaune agreed.

“It’ll be alright, baby,” Ren said, sitting down next to Nora and holding her hand. “I’ve got you.”

“Aww, thanks,” Nora swooned, smiling at him. “You sure know how to sweep a girl off her feet.”

“Nothing bad will happen to us as long as we have each other,” he assured her.

“Come here you!” Nora said, pulling him into a kiss.

Meanwhile, Tai was looking out the window. “Hey, we can see the surface now. This city doesn’t have a day or night. The plate prevents us from seeing the sky.”

Blake went to join Tai in looking out the window. “A floating city, huh…”

“Yeah, and I hate it. The upper class gets to live it up on top of that ‘pizza’, while the rest of us are stuck down here suffering and being forced to breathe this polluted air. On top of that, we have those reactors draining all the energy.”

“Yeah, people have it bad in this city. _Especially_ the faunus.”

“Speaking of, when are you gonna take that bow off? You know you don’t have to hide your ears around us, right?”

“I’ll take it off when we’re not in public. I’d rather not face discrimination from this city’s racist denizens. The only faunus that ever got treated decently around here was Adam Taurus.”

“Speaking of, you were in SOLDIER, weren’t you? Did you ever meet him?” 

“That’s a story for another time, we’re almost to the station.”


	2. The Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and co. head back to 7th Heaven, where Yang is concerned about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's chapter 2, lot's of bumbleby content in this one. You may notice Blake is a bit OOC, and there's a reason for that. FFVII fans will already know why, but those of you that haven't played it will find out much later on in the story. Once again, thanks to lava, nat, and WolfRain for their help.

“Ugh, it’s past midnight. When will they be back?” Ruby Rose complained to her older sister Yang Xiao Long, who was currently tending the bar of 7th Heaven, the bar she owned that functioned as a base for AVALANCHE.

“You just want to gawk over Blake’s sword, don’t you,” Yang said with a knowing smirk.

Yang Xiao Long was a 21 year old woman with bronze skin much like her father’s, a long, wild mane of golden blonde hair, and lilac eyes. Like her dad, she had a prosthetic right arm, but unlike his, hers didn’t transform into a gun. Yang wore a cropped white tank top, black suspenders attached to a black miniskirt, red and black elbow length gloves, red shoes, black socks, and a metal guard on her left elbow.

Ruby Rose was a 15 year-old lighter-skinned girl with silver eyes and short black hair that graduated to red at the tips. She wore a hooded red cloak over a pink dress.

“Uh, yeah! It’s like the coolest sword ever!” Ruby squealed, “and it’s so big too! I’m amazed Blake can even carry it, let alone fight with it! I’d love to see her in action…” She swooned.

“Oh come on, we both know dad and I wouldn’t ever let you anywhere near a battlefield.” Yang said, shaking her head while her lips formed a fond smile. “You and your weapon obsession…”

Yang had gotten to know her sister quite well in the four years they’d know each other, and the girl had quickly become one of the most important people in Yang’s life. Yang could still vividly recall the day they’d met…

 

* * *

 

 

Yang was working the bar that day, having recently acquired a bartending job at 7th Heaven, long before she’d gained ownership of the establishment. A sandy-blond haired man with a prosthetic right arm and a preteen girl came inside, and the man had the girl sit at a table while he approached the bar.

“What can I do for ya?” Yang asked the man.

“Um, I’m looking to dine,” the man said.

“What’re you having?” Yang asked, pulling out a notebook to write the man’s order.

He took a quick glance over at the menu. “I’ll have today’s special, some chicken nuggets, and some cookies.”

“Cool, what’s the name?” Yang asked.

“Tai. Taiyang Xiao Long.”

Yang dropped the notebook in shock, stared at Tai wide-eyed and open-mouthed. “Dad?”

Tai got a shocked expression himself, before pulling Yang into a hug. “Yang, is that you? Do you even still go by that name?”

“I do. It’s gender neutral, after all,” Yang replied. “Oh my God I haven’t seen you since you were a baby,” Tai wept, before pulling away from the hug. “Wait here, I need you to meet someone.”

Tai went over and grabbed the girl he’d come in with, taking her over to meet Yang. “Ruby, this is your big sister Yang.”

“Wait, I thought Yang was the name of my long lost older brother?” Ruby said.

“Well that’s the thing, Ruby. She IS your long lost older brother, only it turns out she’s actually a sister. She’s… She’s like you Ruby,” Tai said, weeping tears of joy.

Ruby gave Yang a curious look, before smiling and holding out a fist. “Trans rights.”

“Trans rights!” Yang said, eagerly fist bumping her sister, before pulling her into a hug. “Oh I’m so happy to have a baby sister!”

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, back in the present, the train had just arrived at Sector 7 station. Tai, Blake, Jaune, Nora, and Ren stepped out, meeting at the bottom of the steps to the station.

“We did good work, gang. But don’t get lazy. I need everyone to give their all tomorrow, because the next mission is going to be even bigger. Now let’s meet up back at the hideout!” Tai said, before running off, everyone but Blake following just behind him.

Blake took a more leisurely pace through the slums, stopping to take a look at the pillar. The pillar was what kept the plate above from falling down and crushing the slums. If the pillar were to come down, everyone in the slums would be toast. Luckily, the only people doing bombings at the moment were AVALANCHE themselves, and they were bombing reactors, not pillars, so there was nothing to worry about.

Blake continued on to 7th Heaven, where she saw Tai standing outside.

“Ready to see your little girlfriend, Blake?” Tai teased.

“Excuse me?” Blake said.

“Oh come on, don’t act like there’s nothing going on between you two. I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”

“Whatever,” Blake said, heading into the bar.

“Daaaaaaaaaaaad!” Ruby said excitedly, running up and hugging Blake. “Oh wait, you’re not dad. But you _are_ that girl with the really cool sword!”

“Ruby, let go of Blake before you crush her to death,” Yang said, walking over. Ruby pouted, but complied. “Sorry about that, she’s a bit of a weapons fanatic. Anyway, I hear things went well? My dad didn’t give you too hard of a time, did he?”

“Eh, he was all right,” Blake said, shrugging.

“Sorry if he’s a bit overprotective. Me and Ruby mean the world to him.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. By the way, I got you something,” Blake said, pulling out the flower she bought.

“A flower? For me? Aww that’s so thoughtful of you, Blake,” Yang said, blushing and taking the flower, giving it a good sniff. “It smells wonderful. You almost never see flowers down here in the slums. Maybe we could fill the whole restaurant with flowers!”

“Hey Ruby, Pyrrha’s on TV!” Jaune yelled. He was sitting and watching one of his girlfriend’s chocobo races, while Ren and Nora cuddled each other nearby.

“Oh boy I love chocobo races!” Ruby yelled, running over to join Jaune. “I wanna ride a chocobo of my own someday!”

“You will, Ruby,” Yang assured her. “I’ll see to it myself if I have to.”

Blake decided to watch the race herself and could see why Pyrrha was the best known chocobo racer on the planet. Her chocobo was so blazing fast that it blew away the competition. It wasn’t long before she crossed the finish line of the final lap, getting first place.

“YES, Pyrrha won!” Jaune yelled, turning and high-fiving Ruby. The two of them seemed to get along quite well.

Just then, Tai finally decided to come in, immediately finding himself glomped by Ruby.

“Welcome home dad!” Ruby said.

“Hey there Little Red,” Tai said, ruffling his daughter’s hair before turning and nodding to his other daughter. “How are you my Sunny Little Dragon? I trust that you made sure your little sister was on her best behavior while we were gone?”

“Of course, dad.” Yang said, smiling at him.

“Anyway,” Tai said, breaking free of Ruby’s vice-grip. “Ren, Nora, Jaune, we’re heading downstairs for a meeting.”

Tai, Ruby, and the JNR trio made their way to the secret pinball machine elevator that took them to the basement, where the AVALANCHE hideout was. There were no patrons in the bar at the time, so they were able to do this undetected.

Yang went over to the bar and motioned for Blake to sit at one of the barstools, which she did. “Want anything to drink, Blake?”

“Give me something hard,” Blake said.

“You got it. You know, people really like my drink mixing skills,” Yang said, winking at Blake. “You won’t be disappointed, I promise.”

Yang quickly mixed Blake a drink, handing it over to her. “Y’know, I’m really glad you made it back safely.”

“Why so concerned? It wasn’t even a tough job.”

“I guess not. You were in SOLDIER, after all. Don’t forget to make sure dad pays you.”

“I won’t. Once I get paid, I’m out of here,” Blake assured her. That last bit wasn’t very reassuring to her though, and in fact made her pout.

“Blake, are you okay?” Yang asked, concerned.

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“Nothing... It’s - I guess you just look a little tired. You should probably meet up with the others downstairs.”

Blake stood up, downed her drink, and went to go do as Yang suggested. Downstairs, she found everyone sitting and watching TV where Jacques Schnee, president of the SMC, was giving a speech.

“Today the No. 1 Reactor was bombed. Terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the attack. They are expected to continue their reign of terror. But there is no need to fear, for I have mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry from this senseless violence. Thank you and good night.”

“Is it bad that if feel kind of bad for having made the bomb that blew up the reactor?” Nora said. “That was a really big blast, I heard innocent people even died. I never meant to kill innocent people, I must’ve made a miscalculation somewhere. All I did was make it like the computer told me.”

“It’s not your fault Nora, you didn’t know,” her boyfriend assured her.

“Yeah, and maybe next time, we can use a bomb that won’t make such a big blast, minimize civilian casualties, y’know?” Jaune said. “But we can’t quit now. The planet needs us.”

“Hey Blake, I have a question for ya,” Tai asked. “Did anyone from SOLDIER fight us today?”

Blake shook her head. “No. If there was you’d know it. They all wear the same uniform as me, with varying colors depending on class.”

“All right, but don’t forget you work for AVALANCHE now. You better not get any ideas about going back to the SMC.” “Going back to the SMC? Look, can we please just go upstairs already and discuss my payment?”

“Pfft, of course, you only wanna talk money,” Tai said bitterly.

Blake made to leave, but Yang, who’d come down at some point, stopped her. “Blake, wait!”

“I don’t know what you see in her Yang, she’s acting like a big jerk right now,” Ruby commented, having been watching the whole fiasco.

“Maybe she wants to go back to the SMC,” Tai scoffed.

“Can everyone just shut up!” Blake screamed. “I don’t care about the SMC, SOLDIER, AVALANCHE, OR the planet!”

“All right guys, can we please all take a chill pill?” Yang suggested, trying to calm the tensions.

“Blake, stop being such a doodoohead!” Nora yelled.

“Yeah,” Jaune said. “You say you don’t care, but you’ve willingly talked to me. You just want friends, don’t you?”

“Buzz off!” Blake yelled at him.

“All right, but I’m just saying, you seem kind of lonely to me. Just know that I’m here if you ever wanna talk.”

Blake hmphed, made her way upstairs, and stormed for the door. Yang ran after her, grabbing her by the shoulder.

“Blake, please! I’m begging you, please join us.”

“Sorry Yang, but I can’t…” Blake said, turning to face her.

“The planet is DYING, Blake! Someone has to do something about it, and the Blake I know wouldn’t just sit idly by for something like this.”

“So you, your dad and friends can do something about it. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

“So you’re just gonna leave us behind then? Leave me, your childhood friend?!” Yang said, on the verge of tears, with a pleading look on her face.

“What? How can you even say that?!”

“Let me guess, you forgot our promise, too, didn’t you?” Yang pouted.

“Our promise?”

“So you DID forget. Figures. Well let’s see if I can’t jog your memory. It was seven years ago, at the well. Remember yet?”

“Yeah… I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold...”

 

* * *

 

 

At the well, 14 year old Yang, both arms intact, came to join Blake, the two of them sitting at the edge of the platform.

“Sorry I’m late. You said you wanted to talk about something?” Yang said.

“I’m leaving for Midgar this spring,” Blake explained.

“Oh… A lot of people seem to be leaving our town.”

“Yeah, but unlike them, I’m not gonna get just any old job,” Blake explained. She got up, went around, and climbed up to the top of the well. “I’ll become a member of SOLDIER, just like Adam!”

“Like Adam, huh? I’ve heard great things about him. But isn’t it hard to join SOLDIER?”

“Yeah. I probably won’t be able to come back here for a while.”

“I see…” Yang said, unable to stop a sob from escaping. Blake immediately hopped down to comfort her.

“Hey, what is it?”

“If you do well, I’ll hear about you, right?”

“Hopefully.”

“Um, why don’t we make a promise, then. If you become really famous and I’m ever in a bind, you’ll come save me, all right?”

“What?” Blake laughed, finding it a bit silly.

“I want to know I can count on you. Now come on, promise me!”

“All right fine. Yang Xiao Long, if you’re ever in a bind, I promise I’ll be there,” Blake said, taking Yang’s hand in hers. “And I’ll protect you.”

As she said this, a shooting star flashed across the sky.

 

* * *

 

 

“You remember it now, right? Our promise?” Yang asked.

“Yeah, but Yang, I’m no hero and I’m sure as hell not famous. I can’t keep the promise.”

“You made it into SOLDIER, didn’t you? Come on, you’ve gotta keep the promise.”

“You can fight, can’t you? What do you even need me to protect you for? You can protect yourself.”

“Maybe I want us to protect each other.”

“Um, not to interrupt, but…” Tai said, having just come up. “Here’s your money Blake.”

“What?! Only 1500…” Blake scoffed. “This is laughable. Next mission, you’re paying me 3000.”

“Excuse me?!” Tai said, before getting nudged by Yang.

“We could really use her help…” Yang said through gritted teeth.

Tai sighed. “Make it 2000 and you have a deal.”

“Fine,” Blake acquiesced.

“Thanks Blake,” Yang said, pulling her into a hug. “Now let’s get to bed, all right?”

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning Blake found herself alone in the basement when she woke up, so she headed upstairs.

“Good morning, Blake. Did you sleep well?”

Blake decided to flirt with her a bit. “Next to you, who wouldn’t?”

Yang’s face flushed beet red and she looked away. “Okay, um… Wow. Did not expect you to say that.”

“All right you lovebirds listen up,” Tai said, deciding to tease them a bit. “Today’s target is the Sector 5 Reactor. Head to the station and I’ll fill you in on the train.”

“I’ll be going this time. I’ve made sure we have a decent stock of Materia for the mission,” Yang explained. Materia was crystalized Mako used to do things such as cast magic in battle. “Anyway, let’s get going. Ruby, you keep an eye on the place while we’re gone, okay?”

“Roger!” Ruby said with a salute.

Tai ran on ahead, while Yang and Blake decided to walk to the train station together.

“So you’re in charge of the Materia, huh?” Blake said.

“Yeah, I’m something of an expert on the stuff, I learned a lot about it back when I was working as a Mt. Nibel tour guide,” Yang explained. “And I know all the optimal setups, too. I’ll make sure we have our Materia slotted efficiently.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Blake said. Before long, they had reached the train station, where the conductor was waiting expectantly.

“ALL ABOARD! The train is about to depart!”


	3. Reactor No. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tai, Yang, and Blake go after the Sector 5 Reactor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's chapter 3! Once again huge thanks to nat, lava, and wolfy.

Yang and Blake entered the train to find Tai waiting for them and Jaune, Ren, and Nora heading for another car.

“Good Morning, and welcome to Midgar lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45,” a voice said over the intercom, before the train started moving.

“So what’s our next target?” Blake asked.

“Cutting straight to the chase, eh? Someone’s serious about her work,” Yang commented. “All right, me and dad can explain it to you.”

“There’s an ID scan check point at the top plate, checking all the trains,” Tai explained.

“I know, Ren explained it to me,” Blake said.

“I’m not surprised. Anyway, we can’t use Jaune’s fake IDs anymore. The system got updated because of yesterday’s attack.” Tai continued.

“We’ve got about 3 minutes ‘til we reach the security checkpoint,” Yang said.

“So in three minutes, we’re jumping off this train, got it?”

Just then, a red light started flashing.

“What the-?” Yang gasped. “The ID check point was supposed to be further down!”

A voice began speaking over the intercom. “Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat!! Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted!”

“What the hell?” Tai said.

Jaune popped into the car. “We’re in trouble! I’ll explain it to you guys later, but for now, we have to hurry! Head to the next car!”

Jaune went back into the next car as soon as he finished speaking.

“Dammit Jaune, what did you do?” Tai said, shaking his head.

“Unidentified passengers located in Car #1. Preparing for lockdown.”

“We’ve got no time to worry about that right now. We’ve gotta go!” Yang said, grabbing Blake by the hand and running to the next car, Tai following close behind.

“Car #1: Locked Down. Upgrading to Level 2 Warning.”

Jaune, Nora, and Ren were already running to the next car when Blake, Yang, and Tai entered the second car.

“Unidentified passengers located in Car #2. Preparing for lockdown.”

“No time to waste, let’s go!” Blake said, before running to the next car with Yang and Tai.

“Car #2: Locked Down. Upgrading to Warning Level 3.”

Tai, Yang, and Blake found Nora waiting for them in the third car.

“Nora! Are we in the clear?” Tai asked her.

“Nope! Not yet. They’re starting another check. But if we keep moving up the train, car by car, we should get past it,” Nora responded, before pulling out her hammer, knocking down a guy in the way, and moving on to the next car.

“Unidentified Passengers: Moving to front of Train. Currently tracking location.”

“Well, you heard her! Let’s keep moving!” Tai said as he, Blake, and Yang hurried to the next car.

“Car #3: Locked Down. Upgrading to Warning Level 4.”

In the fourth car, the trio found 3 groggy half-naked people. When they got to the fifth car, it became clear why.

“Car #4: Locked Down. Upgrading to maximum security alert!!”

In the fifth and final car, they found Ren, Nora, and Jaune in disguises mugged from the people in the fourth car.

“What do you think, Ren? Do I look good in this?” Nora asked her boyfriend, swiping poses.

“You always look good, dear,” Ren said, giving her a fond smile.

“Man, my sisters would probably laugh if they saw me in this,” Jaune said, commenting on the overalls he was wearing. “I wonder how they’re doing now…”

“You mind explaining what happened, Jaune?” Tai asked him.

“It’s all my fault,” Jaune said solemnly. “I modified Blake’s ID card, and that’s what did it.”

“You gave us a real scare there, Jaune,” Yang said.

“Sorry,” Jaune said, looking downcast.

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Ren said, putting a hand on Jaune’s shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ll do better next time!” Nora said cheerfully.

“Thanks, you guys,” Jaune said, and the three of them shared fond smiles.

“Hey Yang, why’d you decide to come along on this mission anyway?” Blake decided to ask.

“Because-”

“Hey, there’s no time for that! We gotta jump!” Tai barked at them.

“Right!” Yang nodded, before jumping off the train.

“Blake, you’re next! A leader’s gotta stay ‘til the end,” Tai then ordered.

“Got it,” Blake affirmed, before jumping off herself.

Tai turned to Jaune, Ren, and Nora. “You guys take care of the rest! Later!”

And with that, Tai jumped off the train himself. He spoke again once Blake and Yang had caught up with him. “All right, team. So far so good. But don’t let your guard down. Jaune, Ren, and Nora got everything ready for us, so let’s move. The reactor should be just down this tunnel!”

The three of them started walking through the tunnel, Yang holding onto Blake’s arm. She tuned to look at Blake, and couldn’t help but admire how attractive Blake had gotten over the years. Her arm muscles felt firm and toned, enough to make Yang want to drool over them. Yang still couldn’t get used to Blake’s new eye color, though. It felt uncanny seeing those glowing blue eyes instead of the pools of amber she was used to.

Eventually, they reached the end of the tunnel, where beams of light blocked the way.

“Those are the SMC’s security sensors,” Blake pointed out. “We can’t go any further.”

Yang noticed a nearby air-duct. “Looks like we’ll have to go through this. Think you’ll be able to fit, dad?”

Tai inspected the duct. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but I’ll manage.”

“Let’s head on in then,” Blake said, heading into the duct. Yang went in right behind her, and couldn’t help but notice crawling through the duct right behind Blake gave her a nice view of Blake’s butt.

“ _Get it together, Yang. Don’t be a perv!_ ” she internally chastised herself, blushing and looking anywhere but Blake’s butt.

On the other side of the duct, they found a ladder to climb down. Blake went down first, followed by Yang. This was a mistake, as when Blake looked up, she caught a glimpse of Yang’s boxers, making her immediately look away and blush. Unfortunately, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Yang.

“Blake Belladonna, you pervert!” Yang mock-gasped.

“It was an accident, I swear!” Blake protested as she got off the ladder.

“It’s okay, I’m just teasing you,” Yang said with a hearty chuckle, getting off the ladder herself.

Tai himself couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head as he got off and started walking alongside the two girls. “You two are SUCH useless lesbians.”

“Hey, I’m Bi thank you very much,” Blake huffed, crossing her arms.

“All right, all right, useless Bi for you then,” Tai said, still chuckling.

The three of them continued on in silence through the Sector 4 Plate, until they reached the Sector 5 Reactor.

“Here it is, Reactor No. 5,” Tai said. “Let’s head on in and blow this baby up!”

The three of them moved through the reactor in silence, until Yang decided to break the silence with small talk as they began getting near the core.

“Y’know Blake, I like the bow, even if I hate the reason you have to wear it,” Yang complimented. “It looks great on you!”

“Thanks,” Blake said, before suddenly collapsing and having a flashback.

 

* * *

 

 

It was in the Nibelheim reactor 5 years ago. Blake watched as Yang kneeled by her foster father’s dead body, tears pouring out of her eyes.

“Papa… Adam did this to you, didn’t he?! I hate him! SOLDIER… Mako Reactors… the SMC… I hate them too! I’ll avenge you Papa, I swear it, Adam’s gonna pay for what he did!”

Eyes red, Yang got up and charged further into the reactor.

 

* * *

 

 

“BLAKE!” Yang yelled, immediately kneeling down and helping Blake up. “Are you all right?”

“Yang…” Blake said sympathetically.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing…” Blake said. “Come on, we’ve gotta hurry and set the bomb! Tai, you’re my watch, right?”

“Yeah,” Tai nodded. Blake hurried and set the bomb, and then the three of them made their way out of the reactor.

When they made it to the walkway outside the reactor, they found SMC soldiers waiting for them.

“What the hell?!” Tai said in disbelief.

“A trap…” Blake muttered.

They all turned to look as Jacques Schnee himself came out of the reactor. He was a pale, blue-eyed, elderly man with a bushy mustache and a finely pressed suit.

“President Schnee?” Tai gasped.

“What’s he doing here?!” Yang said.

“Ah yes, you must be that… what was it agin? AVACADO?” Jacques snickered.

“It’s AVALANCHE and you know it!” Tai barked at him.

“Long time no see, Jacquass,” Blake deadpanned.

“Ah yes, you’re the one that quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I could tell by your eyes you’d been exposed to Mako. What was your name again?”

“Blake.”

“What’s it matter? This place is about to blow up anyway!” Tai said.

“And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you…” Jacques said.

“Vermin? You’re the ones killing the planet and grossly mistreating your workers, especially the faunus! So tell me, who’s the real vermin here?”

“You mean to tell me you actually care about those worthless animals?”

“EXCUSE ME?!” Yang said, eyes red with rage, and Blake had to hold her back from hitting him.

“The only one of those mongrels that ever had any worth was Adam Taurus, and even he was too smart for his own good…” Jacques mused. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a dinner I must attend.”

“Dinner? But we’re not done with you yet!” Yang barked at him, her eyes still red.

“Oh, but I did manage to arrange a playmate for you all,” Jacques said, snapping his fingers, and a whirring noise could be heard.

“What’s that noise?” Yang asked, eyes going back to lilac. A flying robot zoomed in.

“Meet “Airbuster’, a techno-soldier,” Jacques said. “Our Weapon Development Department created him. I’m sure the data he’ll extract from your corpses will prove quite useful.”

A helicopter flew down to pick up Jacques.

“Ta ta,” Jacques said mockingly, getting aboard the helicopter.

“Wait!” Blake yelled, but it was too late, the helicopter had already taken off. Airbuster flew down to engage the group. It split them up; Blake was on one side, the Xiao Longs on the other.

“Let’s bust this thing up,” Tai said, changing his arm into gun form.

“Right,” Blake nodded, pulling out her sword and electrifying it with a Thunder Materia.

Airbuster was facing Tai and Yang, and unleashed an array of missiles on them. Yang jumped in front of Tai so as to take the brunt of the attack and charge her semblance. Blake jumped forward and slashed the back of the machine with her sword, and it turned to face her, opening fire on Yang with its rear gun. Tai charged up a big blast from his gun, firing it into the back of Airbuster, and it turned again to face him and Yang.

“It seems to turn to face whoever attacked it last!” Blake said. “We can take advantage of this, its back is more vulnerable!”

Airbuster unleashed another array of missiles at the Xiao Longs, Yang again taking the brunt of it. Blake jumped up and sliced down at it with her sword, making it face her. Yang took the opportunity to use a Cure Materia on herself so she could tank more damage, while Tai sent out another charged blast, making it turn to face them again. This time it fired its rear gun at Blake, who then slashed at it again with her electrified Blade, making it turn to face her. This time it unloaded its missiles onto Blake.

“Blake!” Yang cried out.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” Blake told her.

“But I can’t Cure you from over here!”

“I said don’t worry about me. Us SOLDIERs are tough.”

Yang charged forward and performed an uppercut and somersault kick on the robot, making it turn to face her and Tai again. Blake quickly took this opportunity to unleash a flurry of slashes, making Airbuster turn to face her once again. Tai then unleashed an array of bullets into the machine’s back, but this time it didn’t turn around.

“Huh, why didn’t it turn?” Tai asked.

“I think it’s too damaged to turn any more!” Blake commented. As soon as she finished speaking, Airbuster hit her with a large array of missiles again, leaving her panting and down on her knees.

“BLAKE!” Yang cried out, deciding to take this opportunity to activate her semblance, making her eyes go red and her hair get fiery. She charged at Airbuster, unleashing a series of punches and kicks, before grabbing it, jumping into the air, and throwing it down towards the ground, causing it to explode. Unfortunately, this explosion destroyed part of the bridge they were on sending Blake falling, but luckily Blake managed to grab hold of the edge of the bridge, hanging on for dear life.

“Blake!” Yang once again cried out.

“Yang, we gotta go, the reactor’s about to blow!” Tai said, putting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“But dad, we have to do something about Blake!”

“There’s nothing we CAN do.”

Tears began to spill from Yang’s eyes at this point. “Blake, please don’t die! You can’t die! There’s still so much I have to tell you!”

“You gonna be alright, kid?” Tai asked Blake.

“I don’t know if I can hold on much longer…” Blake said. And at that point, the reactor exploded, the force of the blast causing Blake to lose her grip and plummet towards Sector 5 below.

“BLAAAAAAAKE!” Yang screamed in anguish, leaning forward to try and reach for her, but Tai pulled her back, dragging her with him as he ran to escape.


	4. Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coming to in a church, Blake meets the flower boy she ran into the other day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma go ahead and assure y'all that this IS a bb fic, dw. Once again thanks go out to wolfy, lava, and nat.

“Are you okay? Can you hear me?” A voice in Blake’s head asked.

“Yeah…” she responded.

“Y’know, back then you could get by with just skinned knees…”

“What do you mean by ‘back then’?”

“What about now, can you get up?”

“...I’ll try.”

“Oooh, she moved!” A male voice said.

“How about that? Take it slow now, little by little…” The voice in Blake’s head said.

“Hello, hello?” The male voice said.

“I know,” Blake said to the voice. “Hey, who are you?”

“Hello, hello!”

Blake opened her eyes, finding the flower boy from the other day looking at her. She sat up, and noticed she was in a flower bed in an old, abandoned church.

“You all right? We’re in a church in the Sector 5 slums. You almost fell on top of me, gave me a real scare. The roof and the flower bed broke your fall.”

“Flower bed… Oh, is this yours?” Blake asked, getting up and dusting herself off. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it, the flowers here are tough. They say you can’t grow grass and flowers in Midgar, yet for some reason they have no problem growing here. Anyway, we meet again. Remember me?” He flashed a big grin.

Blake nodded. “You sold me a flower.”

“Yeah, thanks for that by the way!” the boy said, still grinning wide. “Say, do you have any Materia?”

“Only what Yang gave me,” Blake said. “But you can find Materia anywhere these days.”

“Mine is special,” the boy said, looking down at the Materia attached to the ribbon tied around his belt loop. “It’s good for absolutely nothing.”

“You probably just don’t know how to use it yet.”

“No, I do. It just doesn’t do anything. It was my mother’s though, and I feel safe having it. Say, you mind chatting for a bit?”

“Sure, why not?” Blake shrugged.

“Cool! Let me check the flowers first though,” the boy said, crouching down to check on them. “Oh, come to think of it, we don’t know each other’s names yet do we? I’m Sun, Sun Wukong. I sell flowers for a living.”

At that moment, Turk Mercury Black walked in and stopped by the door, unnoticed. He was a light-skinned man in his 20s with grey eyes and grey hair.

“I’m Blake. I do a little bit of everything.”

“A jack of all trades, huh? Nice to meet you Blake!” Sun said. He couldn’t help but be reminded of _him_ by her, what with her eyes, her uniform, her sword, or even the way she literally crashed into his life by falling through the church roof.

“Awww what a touching tale of romance: boy meets girl, surely you’re _destined_ to be together,” Merc said sarcastically, grabbing their attention.

“Hey, Blake, you ever been a bodyguard?” Sun asked. “You DO do everything, yeah?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Get me out of here and take me home then.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“How about I take you on a date?”

“Sure, why not?” Blake shrugged, before stepping towards Merc. “I don’t know who you are but-”

Just then, the voice in her mind said. “I know you.”

“Oh wait, I do know you. I recognize that uniform.”

Three soldiers came in behind Merc.

“Yo Merc, want us to take her out?” One of them asked.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said.

“Blake, this way!” Sun said, motioning for Blake to follow him to the church’s backroom. The two quickly ran back there.

“She had Mako eyes,” Merc noted, walking across the flower bed. “Now let’s get to work. Oh, and don’t step on the flowers.”

“But you just did!” the soldiers pointed out.

In the back room, Sun started leaping and climbing the scaffolding towards the rafters.

“What the hell Sun!?” Blake said, panting and trying to catch up. “Wait for me!”

Just then Merc and the soldiers came in.

“Don’t let The Ancient escape!” Merc called out, and the soldiers opened fire on Sun, causing him to fall to the basement.

“Sun!” Blake cried out, watching as the soldiers surrounded and cornered Sun. Just as she was about to do something, Sun pulled a collapsible staff out of the back of his jacket and started fighting back against the soldiers.

“Oh yeah, time for some action!” He cheered as he attacked the soldiers with his staff. Blake soon jumped down to join him, and it wasn’t long until they’d depleted the soldiers’ aura. “Come on, Blake, let’s get out of here!”

Sun picked up Blake piggyback style and jumped up to the rafters with Blake on his back. He carried her over to the hole in the roof she’s left and they stopped to catch their breath on the rooftops.

“If you can fight like that... Why‘d you even ask me to be your bodyguard?” Blake asked him.

“Maybe I just wanted an excuse to spend more time with you,” Sun said with a wink. “Y’know, this isn’t the first time the people in suits have been after me.”

“They’re the Turks. They’re an organization in the SMC. They scout candidates for SOLDIER, in addition to some more dirty stuff on the side, like spying, murder, and stuff like that,” Blake explained. “Why’re they after you?”

“Maybe they’re just Biphobic,” Sun joked.

“You’re Bi too?” Blake said.

“Hell yeah I am!”

“BI RIGHTS!” They both said at the same time, giving each other a high five.

“We should probably get going; we don’t wanna get caught,” Blake said.

“Right,” Sun said, and they ran across the rooftops for a bit, before stopping to take a break. “Hey Blake, were you ever in SOLDIER?”

“Yeah, I used to be. What gave it away? Was it the uniform? Maybe even the eyes?”

“Both, but mostly the eyes. You can always tell if someone’s been in SOLDIER by their glowing blue eyes.”

“How did you know about that?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going, ‘bodyguard’,” he said, nudging her with his elbow. Eventually they made it to the edge of the rooftops, and jumped down into the slums. “My house is that way. Let’s not take too long.”

They came across a large sewer pipe converted into a small home.

“The guy that lives in there is sick,” Sun said. “He passed out nearby and someone must have helped him here.”

They decided to enter the pipe, where the sick man was. He had a tattoo of the number 2.

“Here he is, can you help him? You did say you did a little bit of everything,” Sun said.

Blake shook her head. “Curing sick people was not a part of that everything. I’m no doctor.”

“Oh well, let’s get going then,” Sun said, disappointed. Blake stopped for a moment to look at the man’s television, where the news was playing.

“The parts of Midgar that were temporarily out of power due to AVALANCHE’s attacks will have their power back momentarily. Following her father President Jacques Schnee’s lead, Mayor Weiss Schnee has also spoken out against AVALANCHE.”

“What’re you watching the news for? It’s not like there’s anything interesting on,” Sun said, grabbing Blake and pulling her back outside. Before long they’d made it to Sun’s house, where his foster mom, Glynda Goodwitch, a light-skinned, green-eyed blonde woman who looked to be in her 30s or 40s, was waiting.

“Hey mom, meet my bodyguard, Blake,” Sun introduced.

“Bodyguard? Don’t tell me they’re after you again,” Glynda said, shaking her head. “Are you all right?”

“Psssh, when am I ever not fine? ‘sides, I had Blake with me.”

Glynda turned to Blake. “Thank you for looking after my fool of a son.”

“Hey!” Sun said, offended, before Glynda turned and went upstairs. “So Blake, what’re you gonna do now?”

“Sector 7’s not far is it? I wanna meet up with Yang at her bar,” Blake said.

“Who is this Yang anyway?” Sun asked. “You mentioned her back at the church too. She your girlfriend or something?”

“Not exactly. It’s… She’s… We’re… It’s complicated.”

Sun laughed. “All right then, I won’t pry. I can show you the way to Sector 7 though.”

“Sounds good to me,” Blake said with a shrug.

“Mom, I’m taking Blake to Sector 7, be back in a bit!” Sun yelled upstairs, and Glynda immediately came down.

“Not at this hour you aren’t, young man,” Glynda said. “I know I won’t be able to stop you from going entirely, but you could at least go tomorrow instead of at this late hour.”

“You’re right,” Sun admitted.

“Good, now get to bed,” Glynda ordered, and Sun ran upstairs. Glynda turned to address Blake. “Those glowing blue eyes… You’re from SOLDIER, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I used to be,” Blake said with a nod.

“I’m not sure how to say this, but could you please leave tonight? Without telling Sun? SOLDIER… The last thing Sun needs is to get his heart broken again.”

Blake nodded and went upstairs, finding Sun there.

“Better be wary when we go through Sector 6 tomorrow, Blake,” Sun said. “That place is a little dangerous. Anyway, night.”

“Night,” Blake said, and the two went to bed, Blake getting to use Glynda’s bed and room. She soon fell asleep.

“You seem pretty tired,” the voice is Blake’s head said. “I haven’t slept in a bed like this in a long time. Not since I was a kid…”

Blake had a flashback to her lying on her bed in Nibelheim as a kid, her mom pacing about nearby.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh my how you’ve grown. I bet the boys never leave you alone!” Kali teased.

“Really, mom?” Blake sighed.

“I just want you to settle down with a nice boyfriend is all.”

“Oh my God,” Blake groaned in embarrassment. “We are not talking about this.”

“I think you’d do well with a slightly older boyfriend, one that would look after you.”

“Mom!”

And with that, Blake woke up.

“Crap, I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep,” Blake berated herself. “Oh well, it’s still late, I can still sneak out.”

Blake carefully snuck out of Sun’s house, and made her way through Sector 5. However, when she made it to the Sector 5 exit, she found Sun himself standing there.

“Hiya Blake, ready to go to Sector 7?” He said cheerfully.

Blake facepalmed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”


	5. The Hive of Scum and Villainy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Sun head into Wall Market to rescue Yang from the clutches of Shay D. Mann

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to lava, nat, and ChaoticEther. (wolfy's gone for a few weeks so ethan beta'd this chapter instead)

Before long, Sun and Blake arrived at the Sector 6 playground.

“The gate to Sector 7’s just over there,” Sun said, pointing it out.

“Thanks,” Blake said, “Guess this is where we part ways, huh?”

“Not quite! We still haven’t had our date yet!” Sun said, hopping up onto a slide with a cat’s face and motioning for Blake to join him. “Why not have it right here, right now? It’ll be quick, I promise!”

“If you insist,” Blake said, rolling her eyes and smiling, before hopping up to join him.

“What rank were you? Y’know, in SOLDIER?”

“I was…” Blake paused for a second, before her mind flashed. “First Class.”

“Damn, even the same rank as him…” Sun muttered.

“The same rank as who?” Blake asked.

“My ex-boyfriend. He was the first and only person I ever dated,” Sun said wistfully.

“Were you serious?”

“Pssh, naw, but I liked him for a while,” Sun said, though his tone of voice betrayed the fact that the relationship was more serious than he let on.

“I probably knew him. What was his name?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Just then, a chocobo-drawn carriage came through the gate to Sector 7, carrying Yang, who was wearing an indigo dress.

“Yang?!” Blake gasped, jumping to her feet. She watched as the carriage went past them and towards Wall Market.

“So that’s Yang huh?” Sun said. “Come on, let’s follow after her!”

Sun went running off after the carriage. Blake sighed and ran after him, meeting up with him in Wall Market, a shopping center in the Sector 6 Slums.

“This place can be pretty scary, especially for a girl, so let’s try to find Yang fast!” Sun said.

They made their way to the area outside a brothel/love hotel called the Honey Bee Inn, where Blake approached a suspicious looking older man.

“You looking to work here, or are you looking to be a customer?” he asked.

“What do you know about a girl named Yang?” Blake asked.

“Yang’s our newest girl, I’m surprised you know about her already. She isn’t in at the moment though, she’s busy having her interview. Here at the Honey Bee Inn, it’s customary for all the new girls to be taken to Shay D. Mann’s mansion. Shay’s a famous dilettante. Now he’s looking to settle down with a bride.”

Blake went back over to Sun. “She’s at Shay D. Mann’s mansion. Now come on, let’s go.”

The two of them made their way to the mansion, where they were stopped by the doorman.

“This is the mansion of Shay D. Mann, the most powerful man in all of Wall Market,” the doorman said, before turning to Sun. “Shay’s not into men, so I’m gonna have to ask you to leave and never come back. Your lady friend is more than welcome to enter, however.”

Blake and Sun stepped aside to talk.

“Looks like I’ll have to go in alone. You’ll be fine out here, right?” Blake said.

“Nuh-uh, no way am I letting you go into a place like this alone. We need to figure out a way to get me in there. Let’s see, I can’t just bust in there, it’d cause too much commotion,” Sun rubbed his chin as he pondered, before a lightbulb went off in his head. “I’ve got it! We’ll dress me up as a girl!”

“What.” Blake said, mouth agape, but Sun was already running back up to the doorman.

“My lady friend here has a cute friend she wants to bring in with her,” Sun explained.

“A friend, huh? Sounds good to me,” the doorman said.

“We’re really doing this, huh?” Blake said as they walked away from the mansion.

“Yep,” Sun grinned, holding his hands behind his head.

“Well if there’s no stopping you, I suppose I may as well help you out. Let’s see if we can’t get some help for your disguise at the Honey Bee Inn.”

“You sure you don’t just wanna go there to gawk at cute girls?” Sun teased.

“Of course not,” Blake dismissed, though a faint blush tinged her cheeks.

“Well luckily I managed to pickpocket this off some poor schmuck,” Sun said, pulling out a membership card for the hotel.

“You’re a pickpocket?” Blake said in disbelief.

“Hey, when you grow up in the slums, you learn what skills you can to survive.”

The two made their way to the Inn, where they showed the membership card to the suited redhead standing outside, who let them in. In the lobby, there was a girl standing in a revealing bee costume, clearly one of the Inn’s employees.

Blake decided to peep inside the keyhole of a room called The Queen’s Room. Inside, she saw Jacques Schnee, dressed in a king’s costume, laying in bed with an elderly shopkeep named Throckmorton that Blake had seen a few times before. Also in the room were a couple of SMC employees, one of which was dressed in a suit of armor, while the other held the lights. Jacques seemed to be doing some bizarre medieval roleplay, and soon got up and began monologuing.

“The wind’s calm now…… It’s the curse of the resurrected Satan… Our beloved Queen does not awaken… The time is ripe… A legend has been passed on through generations…” Jacques monologued.

“Shouldn’t we stop him soon?” One of the employees, the one holding the lights, whispered to the other one.

“We do have a luncheon with him soon…” The second employee, the one in the suit of armor, whispered back.

“You tell him.”

“I can’t!”

“Aw come on! Oh well…”

“A legend has been passed on through generations…” Jacques continued monologuing, pacing back and forth across the room.

“I’m so disgusted with him,” the second employee whispered.

“......the sought after Promised Land……” Jacques continued.

“It’s like this every time we have a business trip to Midgar,” the first employee whispered.

“......One with Blue Eyes…” Jacques continued.

“We come all the way to Midgar for this bullshit,” the first employee complained.

“......and a Great White Sword on their back……” Jacques continued rambling.

“At least you only have to carry the lights! I’ve gotta wear this heavy suit of armor!”

“......Will not lead to the Promised Land……” Jacques finished.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s all part of the job,” the first employee whispered. “Oh, by the way, did you hear? Mr. Schnee’s wife found out about his affair with Throcky.”

“What? No way!”

“Oh hey, it looks like he’s finally done!”

Jacques approached the employee in the armor.

“Geez, Mr. Schnee! Er, I mean, Your Majesty…”

Blake looked away from the keyhole as Jacques slapped the employee.

“What’d you find out? Anything juicy?” Sun asked her.

“Apparently Mr. Schnee is really into bizarre medieval roleplay, and has been cheating on his wife with an elderly shopkeep named Throckmorton.”

“Oh yeah, good old Throcky, I know that guy! I’ve bought from him plenty of times! I would not have guessed he’s sleeping with President Schnee, lemme tell ya.”

“I’m gonna go take a peek in the other room,” Blake said, peeping into a room labelled The Lover’s Room.

“What do you see?” Sun asked.

“There’s an elderly couple in there,” Blake said. “Apparently their son rented them this room. He’s a high ranking SMC employee and just got a promotion. There’s also an orange haired girl standing motionless in the corner for some reason. It like she’s a robot or something.”

“That’s cool and all, but aren’t we here to help me crossdress?” Sun pointed out.

“Oh right, come on, let’s head to the dressing room.”

The duo went into the back room, where several employees were standing in front of a mirror, primping and doing makeup and the like. Blake approached one of the women.

“Hey, my friend here wants to look pretty, do you think you could do his makeup?”

“Sure,” the woman said. She had sun lean forward and pasted some makeup onto him.

“All right, now let’s head to the dress shop.”

The two made their way to the clothing store, approaching the owner.

“Hey, I need you to make me some clothes,” Sun said.

“Sorry, I don’t make men’s clothes,” the owner said.

“Who said I wanted men’s clothes? Just once, I’d like to dress up like a girl, so can you make a cute dress for me?”

“All right,” the owner said, taking a moment to envision a dress. “I think I’ve got something, why don’t you browse for a wig while I make the dress?”

Sun and Blake went over to the wig section, browsing the wigs until Sun found a blonde wig he liked. He also decided to spray on some of the sample perfume. They then went back to the owner, to find he had finished the dress.

“Hey Blake, do you think you could help me put this on?” Sun asked from the changing room. “I’m just putting it on over my regular clothes, don’t worry.”

Blake sighed and went to help him get the dress, which was dark blue, long, and long-sleeved, on. Sun stepped out, and looked at himself in a mirror.

“Hmmm, something’s not quite right,” he said, before grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting an ab window into the dress. “There, much better.” He turned to Blake, striking a pose. “So, how do I look?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Blake sighed, shaking her head.

“You’re no fun! Anyway, are you gonna get anything, Blake?” Sun asked her.

“I think I will,” Blake nodded. She browsed a bit, before settling on a fashionable women’s suit. Blake and Sun changed into and paid for their clothes, before heading back to Shay’s mansion.

“Damn, you two look hot!” the doorman said. “Come on in, ladies!”

The two went inside, where a suited redhead greeted them.

“Hey, ladies, I’ll go let Shay know you’re here,” he said, turning and walking off.

“All right, let’s go find Yang,” Blake said. She and Sun went down a set of stairs to the basement, where they found Yang. “Yang!”

“Blake!” Yang said, immediately turning and running up to give Blake a big hug. Sun, meanwhile, moved off to the side to let them catch up. “You’re alive! I’m so happy! Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you? What happened after you fell?”

“Whoa, slow down and let me explain,” Blake said. “After I fell, I met Sun, and he helped me out.”

“Sun?” Yang asked.

“He’s the boy that sold me the flower I gave you,” Blake said, before she nodded over to him. “He’s actually in here with is. He had to disguise himself as a girl to get in here.”

“Seriously?” Yang said. She decided to walk over to Sun and introduce herself to him, holding out a hand for him to shake.. “Hey Sun, I’m Yang! Thanks for helping Blake out.”

“Nice to meetcha, Yang,” Sun said, grinning widely and eagerly shaking her hand. “Blake’s told me a lot about you.”

“Has she?” Yang said. 

“Yep,” Sun said with a wink.

“You know, I like the ab window,” Yang complimented him.

“Thanks!”

“I should’ve included one in my dress. Oh well. Say, didn’t I see you with Blake at the park?”

“Yeah, that was me! You don’t have to worry about me though. Me and Blake only just met. It’s nothing.”

“What? Oh no, don’t misunderstand, Blake and I just grew up together, nothing more,” Yang stammered, a bit flustered.

“Poor Blake, having to listen to us both call her nothing,” Sun teased.

“Shut up Sun,” Blake said, looking down at the ground to hide her blush. She then looked up and approached Yang. “Mind telling us what you’re even doing in a place like this, Yang?”

“Right, ummm…” Yang started.

“I’ll just plug my ears and give you two some privacy,” Sun said, walking away from them and covering his ears with his hands.

Yang gave Blake a hug again. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks,” Blake said. “So what happened?”

“When we got back from the reactor, there was this weird man. I managed to squeeze some info out of him, and that’s when Shay’s name popped up. Dad wanted me to leave the guy alone, but something’s been bothering me.”

“And you wanted to get the story straight from Mann’s mouth,” Blake surmised.

“Yep. So I made it here, but now I’m in a bit of a bind. Mann is looking for a bride. Every day, he gets three girls, chooses one, and then he, well…” Yang trailed off. “Anyway, I have to be the girl, or I’m out for tonight.”

“Psssh, we got three girls right here, so there’s no problem, right?” Sun said, popping up and wrapping his arms around Blake and Yang, grinning a big grin. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear.”

“Sun, can you please just stay out of this?” Blake said, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

“Oh, so it’s all right for Yang to be in danger?”

“No, I don’t want Yang in-”

“You gonna be able to handle yourself, Sun?” Yang said.

“Of course! I grew up in the slums, I’m used to danger,” Sun said with a proud grin.

“Sounds like we have a plan, then,” Yang said, nodding at him, while Blake just sighed.

The suited redhead then came down to fetch them. “It’s time ladies. Shay is waiting.”

The three of them were led to Shay D. Mann’s office, where they were made to line up in front of him.

“Hmm, which of you fine ladies should I pick?” Shay pondered, pacing back and forth. He eventually approached Yang. “I think I’ll pick you. You’re not too bulky, not too lean, you’re…”

“Just right,” Yang sighed, rolling her eyes. “Be gentle, okay, Shay?”

Shay turned to his two lackeys. “You two can have the others, I’m gonna take this one to my room.”

Shay left for his bedroom, Yang following behind. The lackeys led Blake and Sun to the basement.

“Well, are you ladies ready?” One of them asked.

“Nah, not interested,” Blake said, throwing off her suit to reveal her SOLDIER uniform underneath. She pulled out her sword and quickly knocked out one of the lackeys. Meanwhile, Sun had cast off his disguise, pulled out his staff, and knocked out the other one. Blake grabbed Sun. “Come on, we gotta go help Yang!”

“Right,” Sun nodded.

Meanwhile, in Shay’s room, Shay was trying to get Yang in bed.

“You know, you have really nice hair,” Shay commented, reaching out to touch Yang’s hair, however, Yang caught his wrist, and twisted his arm behind his back, just and Sun and Blake came running in. “What the hell?!”

“You don’t get it, do you, Shay?” Yang said.

“Get what?”

“Shut up, we’re the ones asking questions here!” Yang barked, spinning him around and grabbing him by the balls with her prosthetic. “Now tell us what your assistants found out! If you don’t talk…”

“I’ll chop them off,” Blake threatened.

“Please no! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!” Shay begged.

“Then talk,” Yang said gruffly.

“I made ‘em find out where the man with the gun-arm was! It’s what I was ordered to do!”

“Who ordered you?”

“If I told you, I’d be killed!”

“If you don’t tell us…”

“I’ll rip ‘em off,” Sun threatened.

“Aaah! It was Hazel Rainart, the SMC’s head of Public Safety Maintenance!”

“SMC huh? What are they up to? If you don’t tell us…” Yang tightened her grip on his balls a little. “I’ll crush them.”

“Okay okay okay, I’ll talk. They wanna crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE. Literally, they want to break the support pillar holding the plate up above them!”

Yang gasped. “They’re gonna break the support?!”

“Uh huh. I hear AVALANCHE’s hideout is in the Sector 7 Slums. I’m just glad it’s not here in Sector 6.”

“They’re going to wipe out the Sector 7 Slums?!” Yang shoved Shay away, then walked over to Blake. “Blake, will you come with me to Sector 7?”

“Of course,” Blake said, and she, Yang, and Sun started for the door.

“Hold on a second!” Shay yelled. “Why do you think scum like me would babble about the truth?”

Blake thought it over for a second. “Because they’re sure they’ll win.”

“Correct!” Shay said, hitting a switch and causing Yang, Blake, and Sun to fall through a trap door to the sewers below...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bossman Rights!


	6. When It Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and co. race to stop the SMC from destroying Sector 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Big thanks to nat, lava, and ethan.

At SMC headquarters, President Jacques Schnee was holding a meeting in his office with James Ironwood and Hazel Rainart.

Hazel was a burly 8 foot tall man in a green suit, whiles James was a handsome black-haired man in a blue suit whose right half of his body was all prosthetic, though only his prosthetic right hand was visible at the moment.

“How are the preparations going, Hazel?” Jacques asked.

“Quite smoothly. I’ve assigned the Turks to this,” Hazel answered.

“Jacques, are we really going through with this, just to destroy a group with only a few members?” James asked.

“What’s the matter, James? Do you want out?” Jacques said.

“No, but as head of the Urban Development Department, I’ve been involved in the building and running of this city, and I’m not too keen on the idea of us deliberately causing major destruction to it, particularly when we could end up causing the loss of innocent lives. Not to mention the Mayor, your own daughter, is against this too.”

“Weiss was always too defiant for her own good anyway. It’s why I took away her status of heiress and gave her the figurehead role of Mayor instead.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not keen on this plan either, James. I’d rather not cause the loss of innocent life. But orders are orders, and something has to be done about AVALANCHE. If it’s any consolation, I did order the Turks to tell the civilians to evacuate,” Hazel said, before walking off.

“You look tired, James. Why not take a few days off, hm?” Jacques suggested, and James looked at him, before walking off. “We’ll destroy Sector 7 and say that AVALANCHE did it. Then we’ll send in the rescue operation courtesy of the Schnee Mako Company… Hahaha, it’s perfect..”

 

* * *

 

 

Blake, Yang, and Sun landed in the sewers beneath Sector 6. After dusting herself off, Blake approached Yang to see how she was doing.

“You alright, Yang?” Blake asked.

“Not really,” Yang admitted.

“What about you, Sun?”

“Yeah, I mean the worst is over, right?” Sun said with a shrug. Suddenly, there was a growling noise. “Or maybe not…”

A giant horned monster appeared before them.

“It’s Aps, one of Shay’s pet monsters,” Yang yelled, charging forward to throw a punch at it, however she hadn’t noticed Sun charging forward at the same time, so she accidentally hit him with the punch instead of Aps. “Oops, sorry Sun.”

“Guys, don’t just charge in blindly, we need some coordination here!” Blake called out, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

Sun jumped on Yang’s shoulders, using her as a footstool, to get a blow onto Aps’s head.

“Hey Sun could you maybe not?!” Yang yelled at him. Suddenly, she found herself getting licked by Aps. “Eugh!”

Blake charged forward to attack Aps, but it knocked her and Sun over with its tail. Blake, and Sun got back up and charged at it along with Yang, only for the three of them to bump into each other. Suddenly, the sewer water started rising, and Aps flooded the area with a giant tsunami of sewer water, harming itself and especially harming its three adversaries.

Blake got up and sputtered a bit, before barking at her allies. “All right, that’s it. We need to start using some strategy here, so you two are gonna follow my orders, got it?!”

“Got it,” Yang and Sun said, nodding and ducking under Aps’s tail as it swung at them.

“First, Sun, I need you to group-cast Cure on us,” Blake ordered, dodging out of the way of Aps’s tongue.

“You got it!” Sun complied, casting Cure on the group.

“Now, I’m gonna use Libra to try and find out this thing’s weakness,” Blake said, casting the materia. “Okay, it looks like its weak to fire. Yang, I need you to flame up your fists with the Fire materia and start punching, while Sun, as the most magically adept one here I’m gonna need you to keep casting Fire on it. I’ll be slashing with my sword. And try to avoid friendly fire this time.”

“Got it,” Yang and Sun nodded, and Yang began punching the beast with her fiery fists of fury, dodging its tail and tongue whenever it swung at her, while Sun kept burning it with a steady stream of Fire from afar.

Blake ran in close and unleashed three powerful chops and slashes with her sword, momentarily stunning the beast. “Its paralyzed, now’s our chance to finish it off!”

Sun increased the stream of fire, while Yang activated her semblance and gave Aps a great big fiery punch, before Blake ran in and stabbed it, at last killing the beast.

“Sis… Dad… The people of the slums…” Yang lamented as she panted, weary from the battle.

“Never give up, never surrender,” Sun said with determination. “It can’t be that easy to destroy the pillar, right?”

“You’re right, we can do this. Let’s go save Sector 7!” Yang said, Sun’s determination having rubbed off on her.

The three of them made their way through the sewers, before emerging from a manhole in Sector 7’s Train Graveyard. The three took a moment to dust themselves off.

“Eugh, I am so gonna need a shower when things have calmed down a bit,” Yang said.

“Sun, I got you mixed up in all of this,” Blake said solemnly.

“No way am I going home when Sector 7 is in danger!” Sun said, knowing what Blake was asking of him.

“Come on, let’s get to the pillar, before it’s too late!” Yang said, and the three of them rushed through the train graveyard and Sector 7 until they eventually reached the pillar, where a crowd had gathered outside it. “We made it! The pillars still standing!”

“I hear gunfire,” Blake said, looking up to see Tai and Jaune at the top of the tower fighting some SMC Sky Troopers. Suddenly, Jaune was knocked off of the tower, and he plummeted to the bottom, landing near Blake and co. Blake immediately rushed over to him. “Jaune! Are you all right?”

“I should be… Pyrrha says I have a lot of aura,” Jaune said, coughing a bit. He was alive, but clearly in no shape to continue fighting. “Tai’s up top… You gotta help him… Thanks for caring about me, though…”

“Sun, look after Jaune, I’m going up!”

“Sun, can you do my a favor?” Yang asked. “My baby sister Ruby is at my bar, 7th Heaven…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get her somewhere safe!” Sun assured her.

Yang turned to the crowd around the pillar. “Everyone, get out of Sector 7, it’s too dangerous to stay here!”

As the crowd dispersed, she and Blake began to make their way up the pillar.

“Y’know, Sun’s a pretty cool dude, I like him,” Yang remarked to Blake. “I think once this is over, I’ll ask him to join AVALANCHE.”

Yang and Blake then ended up bumping into a wounded Ren and Nora.

“Ren and I… Are too hurt to go on…” Nora panted.

“Don’t worry… About us…” Ren panted. “Go help Tai…”

Blake and Yang gave them concerned looks, but continued on to the top of the pillar, meeting up with Tai.

“Blake! Yang! You’re all right! They’re attacking from the helicopter!” Tai said, pointing to a helicopter flying overhead and firing at it. Merc promptly jumped down from the helicopter, and walked over to the control panel.

“You’re too late. Once I push this button…” Merc said smugly, pushing a button on the control panel. “That’s it, mission accomplished.”

“We’ve gotta disarm it!” Yang yelled, rushing towards the control panel, only to have Merc kick her away with one of his powerful prosthetic legs.

“Ah ah ah. I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Merc said, stepping forward and pulling out his electro-mag rod. Tai started firing at him, but Merc then cast a Pyramid spell on Tai, trapping him in the pyramid. “Try and break it if you can.”

Blake ran over to try and destroy it with her sword, but Merc, predicting this, jabbed at her with his electro-mag rod, shocking and stunning her, leaving her temporarily paralyzed.

“Blake!” Yang cried out.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, Blondie,” Merc said with a smug grin on his face.

Yang threw a punch just as Merc was sending out a kick, causing her fist to connect with his foot and launch them both back a bit. Merc then went for a running jump kick but Yang duck out of the way and punched him in the back. Yang then unleashed a flurry of punches that Merc blocked with his rod. Merc tried to jab her with it but she ducked under him and hit him with a jab just as he hit her with a kick, sending them both backwards, using backflips to stabilize themselves.

Yang used the Fire materia in her gauntlets to shoot blasts of fire at Merc as he charged at her, but he blocked them with his rod, before jumping into a downwards axe kick that Yang brought her arms up to block. Yang then went for a roundhouse, but he jumped over it and hit her with a kick in retaliation.

Yang charged forward and again had a series of punches blocked by Merc’s rod. Merc kicked her in the back of the knee then hit her again in the chin as he did a flip backwards. He went for another kick at Yang but she backflipped out of the way. Merc let out another series of kicks that Yang blocked with her forearms, before he danced back and went for a roundhouse, only for Yang to block it and hit him with an uppercut followed by a jab.

Merc flips back into action immediately, hitting her with a flurry of kicks, before sending her backwards with an electrified jab from his electro-mag rod. Unlike Blake, she didn’t get paralyzed, but she did have to stop to catch her breath. Meanwhile, Blake’s paralysis finally ended, and she slashed the pyramid imprisoning Tai, freeing him.

Tai shot a volley of bullets at Merc as Blake approached him, until she started to get too close, and her stopped firing so as to avoid accidentally hitting her. Blake started chopping and slashing at Merc, but he blocked each one with his rod, before attempting to jab her with it again, only to hit a shadow clone, while the real Blake popped up behind him and bonked him on the head with her sword, knocking him right in front of Yang, who had now activated her semblance.

Yang unleashed a flurry of punches on Merc’s head and upper body, finishing with an uppercut that sent him flying backwards. Mercs checked his watch as he regained his bearings.

“Well would you look at the time,” he said, before jumping off the pillar and onto a waiting helicopter.

Tai looked over to the console as Yang ran up to it.

“It’s a time bomb!” he yelled.

“Blake, do you know how to stop this thing?” Yang asked.

“That’s not a normal time bomb,” Blake said.

“That’s right,” leader of the Turks, Roman Torchwick, gloated as the helicopter flew up into view of the party, with Sun right behind him. “Only a SMC executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System.”

Roman Torchwick was a roughly 30 year old man with flamboyant red hair, green eyes accentuated with eyeliner, and a bowler hat atop his head. He carried a fashionable cane with him as well.

“You jerks!” Yang screamed at him. “Dad, shoot him down!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You might just end up injuring our special guest here,” Torchwick said, motioning to Sun.

“Sun!”

“You know him? Well then you should thank me for letting you see him one last time.”

“What’re you gonna do with him!?” Blake asked.

“Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It’s taken us a long time, but I can finally report this to the President. What happens to him after that is up to my higher ups.”

Sun leaned forward a bit. “Don’t worry, Yang! She’s all right!”

Torchwick smacked Sun with his cane. “Shut up you filthy animal!”

“Sun!” Yang cried out in concern.

“Go!” Sun called back.

“The explosions should be starting right about now. Think you can make it out in time?” Torchwick laughed as the helicopter flew off and the first explosions went off.

“We’ve gotta get out of here!” Yang yelled frantically.

“We can use this wire to get out!” Tai said, pointing to a cable attached to the platform. He, Yang, and Blake climbed onto the cable and swung out as the plate came crashing down behind them.

The three of them landed in the Sector 6 playground, which was now littered with debris from the destruction of Sector 7. They stood up and looked over to the gate that used to lead to Sector 7.

“RUBY! Jaune! Ren! Nora!” Tai cried out in anguish, slamming his fists into the ground. “Ruby…”

Yang placed a hand on her dad’s shoulder. “Dad, I think… I think Ruby is safe.”

“Huh?” Tai said, sniffling a little. “What do you mean?”

“In the helicopter, Sun told me ‘Don’t worry, she’s all right’. I think he was talking about Ruby. I’d told him to find Ruby and get her somewhere safe before I went up the pillar.”

“Really?” Tai said, feeling a bit relieved.

“But…” Yang trailed off, starting to shed some tears herself.

“Jaune, Ren, Nora…” Blake said with sadness. “The three of them were in the pillar.”

“Oh God,” Tai cried. “We were comrades in arms. I don’t wanna have to think of them as dead.”

“The other people of Sector 7 too…” Yang said. “Who knows how many of them even made it out.”

“This is so messed up. What kind of monster would kill so many people just to get to us?”

“It almost makes me feel guilty…” Yang said. “Sector 7 was only destroyed because it’s where we were.”

“It’s not our fault, Yang,” Tai said. “It’s the evil Schnee Mako Company! They’re the ones destroying the planet just to obtain power and lines their pockets with gil! The planet’s gonna die if we don’t do something about them, which is why our fight’ll never be over until we’re rid of them!”

Yang let out a wistful sigh. “What about you, Blake? What do you think?”

Blake began walking off to Sector 5 without answering.

“Hey, where’re you going?!” Tai yelled.

“Oh right, Sun!” Yang said in realization.

“Oh yeah, him. What’s his deal?”

“I dunno, but I entrusted Ruby to him.”

“Right, Ruby!” Tai said, and he and Yang ran to catch up to Blake. “Take me to Ruby?”

“Are you gonna help Sun?” Yang asked.

“Yeah,” Blake answered. “But there’s something I wanna know first.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the Ancients.”

Blake’s mind suddenly had a memory of someone saying “In my veins courses the blood of the Ancients. I am one of the rightful heirs to this planet!”

“Adam…?” Blake said, collapsing to one knee.

“Blake, are you alright?” Yang said, kneeling down to catch her.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP JNR


End file.
